absurd deduction game.

The main building of Funer's manor has been completely reduced to ruins.

Most of the wall collapsed, revealing the twisted flesh and broken wooden skeleton inside.

The magnificent decorations, the precious oil paintings, and the exquisite furniture were either completely alienated in the superimposed divine kingdom, or turned into ashes or charcoal under the wash of sunlight and the power of purification.

Only those strange plants, nurtured by the Mother Goddess of Harvest, stubbornly grow among the rubble and ruins, stretching out their leaves and vines of various shapes, bringing a bizarre vitality to this devastated land.

Their roots are deeply embedded in the polluted yet purified land, seemingly slowly absorbing and transforming the last remaining filth.

Herbert, leading the Harvest Church priests who had mostly recovered from their injuries, was carefully navigating through the ruins.

The holy golden light was much weaker than when the Mother Goddess had personally touched them before, but it still enveloped them, protecting them from any remaining traces of contamination and continuing to heal their injuries.

They spoke in hushed tones, carrying some items that had not yet been completely destroyed but were clearly tainted with ill omen, preparing to gather them in an open area for further purification or incineration.

Sister Celine and Deacon Murphy were also assisting, the threads and the faint light of the machinery flashing intermittently as they dealt with some residue that required special methods to handle safely.

Everything is being cleaned up in an orderly manner.

Above the sky, the blazing sun that had dispelled filth and madness was now, just as it had appeared, gradually fading into transparency in a way that defied common sense.

The intense light subsided, the massive outline blurred, and finally, like an overly realistic mirage, it silently dissipated into the deepening night.

Around 7 p.m., the real night sky reappeared, but the usual twinkling stars were gone. Instead, there was only a pure, heavy darkness, devoid of stars and moon, like a huge black bowl lid, completely shrouding the town of Yolikev.

[System Notification: All surviving participants can travel outside the town by any means and wait for the carriages arranged by the Ideal Country to pick them up and leave. Please prepare for your final role-playing.]

Please note that the carriage will only be available until dawn.

The system notification brought this adventure to a close.

Carlos and Yu Xing walked out side by side from the dilapidated gate of the manor.

Carlos's face was still pale from exhaustion, but his emerald green eyes shone brightly in the dim light.

He was clearly in a good mood, walking and talking to Yu Xing, who was walking beside him.

The two had not gone far when suddenly, they heard a faint whooshing sound from above.

A lithe figure leaped out of a window above, tracing a clean arc in mid-air before landing lightly and precisely beside Yu Xing, barely stirring up any dust.

It is a song with green in its melody.

Her expression was indifferent, and there were traces of dark red blood on the hem of her clothes, which had already dried.

Yu Xing glanced up; it was the window of Sarah's room. Considering the timing of the system notification, he asked:

"Is everything settled?"

"Of course," Qu Xianqing replied briefly.

Her gaze then shifted to Carlos. Facing her familiar teammate, her indifference softened considerably, and she became somewhat curious: "Where's your ticket?"

Carlos shrugged: "The system only said to wait in the central square to collect it, and I'm on my way there."

He paused, a slightly chilling expression on his face: "Heaven knows what form [His] ticket will take."

The gods of the Kelvin system are too difficult to understand. This dungeon has insects, undead, and flesh, which is very chaotic. Carlos imagined what would happen if a carrier pigeon brought him a piece of wriggling flesh to eat in order to get the mark?

Qu Xianqing nodded and didn't ask any more questions about the reward.

She turned to Yu Xing: "I'll go check on Zeng Lai. He's an ally of the Broken Mirror Sect after all. His soul is unstable, and his condition might not be good right now."

She tilted her head: "Do you want to come along?"

Yu Xing shook her head and smiled at her: "No, I'm going to the Central Square too."

……

The central square of Yolikev town was unusually empty and quiet after such a night.

The once smooth stone slab floor has cracked quite a bit, and several strangely shaped buds have stubbornly sprouted from the cracks.

The two strolled over at a leisurely pace, and there was no trace of carrier pigeons nearby.

The buildings surrounding the square were pitch black, and Yu Xing looked up.

Scattered on the ground were the faint shadows of wheat ears, radiating a soft golden light, like reflected stars dotting the square, which was quite beautiful.

This is a residual mark of the Mother Goddess's power, silently proclaiming the protection and purification this land has just undergone.

Carlos was carrying an old-fashioned copper kerosene lamp in his hand, its dim, warm light barely illuminating the path a few steps in front of him.

He walked to a relatively intact cast-iron carved bench at the edge of the square, sat down naturally, patted the empty seat next to him, and gestured to Yu Xing who was walking slowly towards him.

Yu Xing didn't say anything and sat down next to him.

Carlos placed the kerosene lamp on the chair between the two of them, its light spreading out a small, peaceful area in the darkness.

Yu Xing raised her head, her gaze fixed on the thick, impenetrable darkness of the night sky overhead.

There was no moon, no stars, not even a wisp of cloud in sight; only pure, seemingly all-absorbing blackness pressed down heavily, giving one a strange sense of suffocation.

"The divine war atop the dome... may have only just begun, though it's no longer relevant to this instance." Carlos followed his gaze, his voice clear in the silent plaza, "The inability to see the stars and moon, is that a form of protection for the humans here?"

"Mm," Yu Xing responded, acknowledging the response, and leaned back in her chair to relax, without saying anything more.

A brief silence filled the space between them, broken only by the faint crackling of the kerosene lamp wick as it burned.

Seemingly finding the silence a bit too oppressive, Carlos scratched his head, his emerald eyes turning to Yu Xing, his tone carrying a rare, understated probing:
"Um, do you mind if I take the initiative like this?" he asked. "I mean... I disrupted your plans so that my contribution points wouldn't be overtaken."

He was referring to Yu Xing's attempt to use the brand to summon "He".

Yu Xing turned her head and glanced at him. In the dim light, his expression was somewhat blurry, but his tone sounded calm, even with a hint of pleasant laughter.

“Isn’t this your ‘ticket’?” Yu Xing said. “Xiao Ququ and I came in halfway through. If anyone’s plans were disrupted, it should be us who disrupted yours.”

"Of course, your opinion should take precedence, right? I'm already full."

Carlos got goosebumps when he heard this.

Everyone knows that Yu Xing is a madman to some extent. Carlos, as a person from the future, naturally feels this even more deeply. But even so, seeing Yu Xing hugging and biting the ancient god on the altar just now still made him feel a bit sanity-dropping.

Yu Xing was still praising him when he smiled and said, "No wonder you're the world's greatest magician. Besides, you don't actually have..."

It did not interrupt his plan.

Before he could finish speaking, the sound of rapidly flapping wings came from afar, breaking the silence of the square.

fluttering...

A pure white homing pigeon with glossy feathers flew precisely in their direction, like a white shadow in the night.

It circled halfway through the air before gracefully landing on Carlos's outstretched forearm. In its beak lay a plain, unmarked white envelope.

The carrier pigeon's dark, beady eyes calmly watched them, first focusing on Carlos taking the letter, then turning its head to glance at Yu Xing.

"Cuckoo."

Its appearance inexplicably reminded Yu Xing of the sheep in the farm she saw from the carriage when she first entered the instance.

The gaze is like a person's.

"Good boy." Yu Xing smiled and reached out to stroke the pigeon's round head. The pigeon shook its head in disgust and twisted its body away from his hand.

"Cuckoo!"

It flapped its wings and flew away.

Seeing this, Carlos knew that the carrier pigeon probably had no other mission, so he didn't stop it. He opened the seal and took out a plain white card from inside.

"...?"

The card had no fancy designs, only one line of... indescribable text.

The characters were distorted and bizarre in shape, the strokes seemed to wriggle and rotate on their own, and the color was a constantly changing, dizzying halo of color.

It does not conform to any known language system, yet it exudes a direct "meaning".

The instant Carlos's gaze fell upon that line of text—

boom!
A massive, chaotic, and incomprehensible flood of polluted information, like a burst dam, ignored all his mental defenses and brutally poured into his mind!
Cognitive indoctrination.

A violent wave of dizziness washed over Carlos, who groaned, swayed, and broke out in a cold sweat.

But he quickly regained his composure, his emerald eyes fixed on the card, the ever-changing colorful halo reflected deep within his pupils.

A few seconds felt like centuries.

The flood of information finally subsided.

Carlos understood the meaning of that line of text.

He said...

I see you.

A chilling feeling rose up, and as he understood, the line of colored text seemed to come alive, "flowing" down from the card and transforming into a misty, ever-changing cloud of colored gas. As if it had a life of its own, it rapidly spread upwards along Carlos's fingers and arm, instantly disappearing into his chest.

A burning, stabbing pain shot through my heart.

Carlos instinctively loosened his collar and looked down.

On the skin below his left collarbone, a new mark is slowly emerging and solidifying.

It was a small cloud shape outlined by flowing, colorful halos.

It was quietly imprinted there, emanating a faint yet undeniable aura belonging to a higher dimension, connected to his heart.

Tickets.

Or rather, it is the mark left when [He] cast His gaze.

Carlos raised his hand and gently touched the colorful cloud imprint with his fingertips.

To be honest, it feels exactly like skin to the touch. If you don't pull open the collar to look, you can't feel anything at all.

"Thank goodness," Carlos exclaimed, "much better than the other one..."

"The other one?" Yu Xingsuan, who was lamenting that the pigeon had flown away, noticed and turned to look.

"Hmm." Carlos hesitated for a moment, his gaze clearly conveying the message, "I'm hiding it, but I don't care if you can tell or not."

"It's nothing, just that I was surprised by how surprisingly affordable the tickets were for [His]..."

"So, you had a less-than-gentle ticket before," Yu Xing bluntly pointed out. "And now? Do you still have that ticket?"

“…” Carlos pursed his lips. “No, I only have one ticket on me.”

That's what they say.

Yu Xing understood.

The other one Carlos mentioned should refer to his future self. In the future, given Carlos's abilities, he would definitely have a place once Yin-Yang City started recruiting applicants.

But now, that "seat" is clearly invalid, and the evil god who once gave Carlos the ticket has also returned to a state of ignorance due to the interruption of time... Perhaps.

Yu Xing was still curious: "So, which evil god gave it to you?"

So far, six of the seven evil gods in Yin-Yang City have made some appearances.

The curse and corruption of the "Ghostly Sinking," the cognition and consciousness of the "Thousand Knots," the fear and spirit of the "Spirit," the chaos and madness of the "He," the system most familiar to the strategist, the "Book," and the most bizarre and elusive element, "Time."

There is another evil god whose name has never been revealed, making him the most mysterious.

After reviewing the situation, Yu Xing suddenly realized that the ticket to becoming a future magician is most likely given by [time]!

It is time that gives the magician the opportunity to go back to the past, or rather, the opportunity to exchange fate with "himself" on another timeline, which makes perfect sense.

But time is indeed the enemy.

The stance of this strange evil god can be gleaned from the actions of the witch who wields the power of time; she is certainly no good.

Oh... I didn't mean to say that other evil gods are good birds.

In short, if Carlos had the mark of "time" on him and possessed certain related powers, would his stance be different?
Yu Xing squinted at him.

Carlos was startled by the look in his eyes: "What! You look like you're thinking of burying me here and there!"

“Nonsense!” Yu Xingyi said righteously, immediately averting his gaze. “It’s not that complete.”

Carlos: "..." This is something no human should say.

However, this only proves that Yu Xing did not place him in a position that required vigilance. If he really became suspicious, Yu Xing could have easily kept him completely from noticing anything.

Regardless, the simulation mentioned that the evil god was unsafe, and the system, being one of the seven gods, might be openly listening. So, seeing that Yu Xing didn't press the matter, Carlos changed the subject:
"Shall we go outside town and take a horse-drawn carriage?"

"Go ahead and go ahead." Yu Xing caught a glimpse of a strange figure appearing by the fountain. "I'm not here to wait for the pigeons with you."

Carlos: "...Isn't that right?"

He also noticed the shadow behind the pool and looked at Yu Xing questioningly.

Yu Xing smiled and gestured with her chin towards the figure: "Look, I'm here to wait for 'someone'." (End of Chapter)